Chapter 40: Baby's First Demon Part 1
February 3, 2003 – Monday
Sunnydale Bus Station
Rona was the last one off the bus. As she slowly went down the metal steps, she looked around at the deserted area, anxious that no one was there to meet her. She crossed to the payphone, picked up the directory dangling from a cable, and flipped through the pages. The one she needed had been torn out. No Summers listing for Rona.
Then, as she looked up, one of the black-robed, eyeless men she'd encountered before ran full tilt at her. He was armed with a wicked-sharp knife, and his grotesque face was grim with purpose. In terror, she turned to run. There were two more, their curved knives flashing as they arced over their heads.
Panicking, she backed up against the wall, her breath shallow and dizzy as she sank to the ground.
Then suddenly two of them were frozen solid.
Rona looked up as Faith stepped around them and smiled at her.
Faith held out her hand at the third attacker as he rushed her. She sent a stream of ice shooting from her hand freezing him solid. She turned back to Rona and smiled. "They should try picking on someone my their own size. Rona, right? I just got word you were arriving."
Rona accepted Faith's help as she got to her wobbly feet. "You're her," she said, in a daze.
"If you mean, I'm Faith, yeah," Faith replied. "If your thinking of Buffy, she's in San Francisco."
Rona took that in . . . and took in, too, that she had only been in Sunnydale mere seconds before she'd been attacked. "I thought, uh, they told me I'd be safe here."
"With me around and my family around, you are," Faith told her.
"That's good," Rona allowed.
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Faith walked in the front door with Rona in tow. She looked around and said, "You guys are still up?"
Xander sat up with a fake smile plastered on his face. "Ah. Who needs sleep?" he said ironically.
"Everybody, this is Rona," Faith announced.
The others greeted her. Then Rona gestured to Andrew and said, "Why is that guy tied to a chair?"
Xander smiled tightly. "The question you'll soon be asking is, 'Why isn't he gagged?'"
Anya walked into the room with a sleeping bag in her arms and Giles came after, suggesting to Molly that she show Rona where the kitchen was.
"Fair enough. I'm a bit peckish meself," Molly said.
Rona echoed warily, "'Peckish?'"
"That's English for 'hungry,'" Anya told her as she unrolled the sleeping bag and spread it over the floor.
Rona muttered, "Oh. Here I thought 'hungry' was English for 'hungry.'"
Faith told Anya, Xander, and Giles about the welcoming committee. No one was thrilled. Obviously The First knew that Potentials were arriving in Sunnydale.
"The First's seems to be one step ahead, G-man," Faith pointed out. "If my family and I have any chance of vanquishing it, we need information. So we need to know how."
"I don't know, Faith." Taking off his glasses, he squatted on his haunches, eye level with the rest of the room. "I've exhausted all the sources I have left with little result. The Watchers' records are still all we really have to go on."
Anya looked similarly frustrated. "I made the rounds myself. Tried to dig up anything useful from the demon community. The ones that didn't attack me, didn't know anything or didn't talk. Either way, we've got squat."
"Well, that won't cut it," Faith said shortly. "What about the Turok-han?"
"The vampire time forgot?" Xander riffed.
"Given the lecture I got from Dawn after Leo had to heal me, I haven't forgotten it," Faith replied. "We know stakes don't kill it, but anything in the books about what does? Sunlight? Fire? Germs?" she quipped remembering that the Mayor had thing about germs.
From the other room, Andrew called, "So, Giles, with that thing guarding the entrance to The First's crib, how will Faith get to Spike?"
Giles had no answer to that. Then the blonde Potential asked, "Well, do we any kind of plan to keep us from dying?"
Standing, Faith said, "We're working on it."
Giles joined Faith. He said reluctantly, "There is one avenue that we haven't tried yet . . ."
"Giles!" Anya protested.
"Beljoxa's Eye," Giles continued. "It's an oracle type creature that exists in a dark dimension. Only demons can open the gateway to it."
"Excuse me," Anya said hotly, "Ex-demon here."
"You've still friends in the fold," Giles argued. "Murderous acquaintances, anyway."
Anya appealed to Faith. "Look there's no reason to think this Beljoxa's Eye will have any of the answers we're looking for."
"Anya, please," Faith said. "We're running out of time. Spike's running out of time."
February 4, 2003 – Tuesday
Halliwell Manor
Buffy, Dawn, who held her baby were standing in the crowded nursery with Piper, Leo, Phoebe and Paige looking in the dual cribs at Piper's twins.
"Ooh, I could eat them up!" Phoebe said excitedly. "I swear I could with a little ranch dressing."
Dawn rolled her eyes as she looked at her sister. "At least she's not fawning over my pum'kin belly like that," she said.
Phoebe spun on Dawn and her baby. "Ooh, I could just eat you up too!"
Piper looked at Dawn and shook her head. "Okay, but let's not, okay?" she told her sister.
"I can't make that promise," Phoebe told both her sister and aunt with a mischievous grin.
"Okay, don't listen to your aunties, okay, they're a little kooky," Leo told his children.
"I resent that, Leo," Dawn said.
"Well I didn't mean you or Faith, Dawn," Leo said apologetically. He looked at Piper. "What do you think about Peter for our boy?"
"Peter?" Piper asked.
"I'm just floating it," he admitted.
Piper looked down at her baby boy. "Hmm, is your name Peter?"
"Well, for what it's worth, I dated a Peter in high school and he wasn't very nice," Phoebe said offering her opinion on the name.
"Yeah, you know, for what it's worth, it's kind of the name of the appendage that he has that surprised us all so much," Paige added. "It might get him teased at school."
"Okay, no Peter, but we're running out of P's," Leo agreed.
"I can't believe you never thought of P boy names," Paige told the couple.
"Well, when I went to the future I only had a little girl and obviously that has changed, as has a lot of things but, um, I'm still having trouble letting go of the name we settled on," Piper explained.
Dawn swooned and collapsed into Buffy's arms as a memory surged forth. Leo caught Dawn's baby girl in his arms before she could fall all the way to the floor.
February 12, 2009 – Alternate Future
Halliwell Manor
"Alright, Prue, what's going on?" Piper questioned while pointing to the limo and assistants on the other side of the front door.
Prue smirked and shrugged. "I don't know but I could really get used to it. I was listening to my assistants brag about me and I don't just work at Bucklands. I own it and three more in Paris, Tokyo, and London," she explained.
"And you're blonde," Piper said running her hand through her older sister's hair.
"Yeah, strange," Prue agreed.
"Wait," Piper backtracked, "you had time to go to work already?"
Prue laughed. "Well, actually, I woke up there but it was amazing. I had all these assistants and this huge office and I have a chauffeur and he's so totally hot. How'd you do?" she asked as her sister laughed. "Is that a good thing or...?"
"Well, if you ignore my apparently failed marriage and the fact that I'm still living in the manor," Piper told Prue with a small sigh.
"You are married?" Prue asked in surprise.
"Was," Piper corrected. "My daughter is on her way to school."
Prue smiled. "You have a daughter!"
"Yeah, and she's beautiful." Piper stammered, grabbing the nearest picture of her daughter and thrusting it at her sister.
Prue took the picture and looked at it. "Oh, of course she is. What's her name?" she inquired, smiling down at the picture.
February 4, 2003 – Tuesday
Halliwell Manor
Dawn blinked looking up into the eyes of Piper, Buffy, Paige, Phoebe and Leo who held her baby girl in his arms. She saw they all had looks of concern. "Oh, she was beautiful, Piper."
"Another one of Prue's memories?" Piper asked as Dawn nodded.
"Of the future you traveled to," Dawn answered. "She was such a beautiful girl. I hope your daughter in this timeline turns out to be her. What did you name her, the memory didn't say."
"Melinda," Piper answered. "But to be honest I am not sure of that name anymore." She looked at her husband. "Or any of the other girls names we picked out."
"We'll think of something," Leo told his wife.
"So are you guys excited to see what their powers are?" Phoebe asked as Buffy helped her sister to her feet.
"Excited," Dawn said as she took her baby girl from Leo. "Terrified."
"I have to agree with Aunt Dawn," Piper said. "After seeing what they can do inside the womb, they're no muggle."
Phoebe smiled as an idea for a name came to her mind. "Hey, what about Potter? Potter Halliwell. Or is it Wyatt?"
"No, it's definitely Halliwell," Leo interjected. "Demons fear it, good magic respects it."
"Exactly," Dawn agreed. "While I changed my last name in homage to our family…Summers-Halliwell. It is also because of whom both sides of the family are. Vampires fear the Summers name. Demons, as Leo said, fear the Halliwell name. And good magic respects both."
"Exactly," Leo agreed with Dawn. "And Dawn will agree that we want what's best for our children. That's why I'm going to say no to Potter."
Dawn's baby started to cry in her arms, which got Piper's twins doing the same. "I think I should go put her down for a nap," she said as she left the room.
"And they're getting obviously sleepy as well," Piper added. "Come on. Shh."
Phoebe hugged first one crib then the other. "We love you both, we love you both, so much. Love you, love you, love you. Bye, babies." She and Paige head out of the room.
Piper smiled as she tucked her babies in with blankets embroidered with the triquetra symbol on it. "You two are perfect, you perfect little creatures."
"Creatures?" Buffy said with a roll of her eyes.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"It's too bad with all the powers both your babies and Aunt Dawn's has," Paige said as Piper, Leo and Buffy joined her and Phoebe in the hallway, "sleeping through the night is not one of them."
"Yeah," Dawn said as she came out of Buffy's room. She had moved her baby's crib temporarily to Buffy's room till Faith was done with the First Evil in Sunnydale and was once again home full time. "I think Piper will agree that we're sorry about that."
"Aunt Dawn's right," Piper agreed as they watched Phoebe walk into her room. "Maybe we can cast some kind of sound proofing spell around our bedrooms so you don't have to deal with..."
"No way," Paige objected, "it'll interfere with their alarm systems."
"Which works how exactly?" Buffy asked with concern.
"Ah, pretty basic stuff," Paige explained looking at her mother. "I just enchanted a few cowry shells."
"Well, it's not going to shock anything, is it?" Leo asked, he was just as concerned as Buffy.
"In the nurseries!" Paige exclaimed. "Or mom's bedroom. I'm not a total idiot. It'll just alert us to the presence of evil so we can all sleep a little sounder. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need to apply some under eye makeup to these dark circles that your sweet babies caused." She turned and went into her room.
Phoebe snuck out of her room heading for Buffy's.
"Where are you going?" Dawn asked.
"I'm just going to go watch her sleep for a little while," Phoebe told her aunt. "Then I was going to go do the same with Piper's twins."
Buffy shook her head. "Phoebe, you need to go to work." She then looked at her sister. "So do you."
"Actually I'm still on maternity leave," Dawn corrected her sister. "Elise said I didn't have to come back full time to work till next week."
"Actually if memory serves me right, Dawn," Buffy said. "You and Phoebe are supposed to meet the new owner of the paper today."
"I forgot about that," Phoebe sighed. She looked at her aunt. "Why couldn't Elise give new aunties maternity leave too."
"Phoebe, Aunt Dawn, the club is not raking in the dough these days and Paige is unemployed, the cost of diapers for three babies...We kind of need you both to keep your jobs."
"I'm still on paid maternity leave, Piper," Dawn reminded her niece.
"Which could change with this new owner," Buffy told her sister.
"Alright," Dawn sighed. "Come on, Pheebs. Let's get this over with."
Phoebe reluctantly nodded. "Alright. Just, no Peter, okay? And no Patrick. And I really think you should consider Potter because it's a great name. Okay. Just don't make any decisions until we get back, please. And do me a favor and kiss their little toes for me when they wakes up."
"Dawn, hold up," Leo said.
"I'll be right down, Phoebe," Dawn said as Phoebe nodded heading down the stairs.
"When are you two going to talk to her?" Leo asked looking at both of the new mothers.
"Oh, she's just excited," Buffy told her son-in-law.
"Your excited, Buffy," Leo told his mother-in-law. "Phoebe is excited, obsessed."
"Why?" Piper question looking at her husband for an explanation. "Because she wants to watch her nieces and nephew sleep?"
Leo shook his head. "No, because yesterday she was giving both of you breast feeding advice and now she wants maternity leave."
Piper glanced at her aunt who shrugged. She looked back at her husband. "Well, she knows a lot about breasts. And she's an aunt, that's what they do. It's family, you know."
"I would expect that advice more from Buffy than Phoebe, though," Leo told his wife. "After all Buffy's been through what you two are going through."
"Leo does kind of have a point there," Buffy agreed. "Come on, Dawn, I'll walk you out." She and Dawn headed down the stairs leaving Leo and Piper alone.
"So how is the new mommy doing?" Leo asked as he put his arms around Piper.
"Mommy's tired," Piper admitted. "And happy."
Leo smiled as kissed his wife. "Want to try and get some sleep?" he suggested.
Piper nodded. "Mm-hm," she agreed as he kissed her again.
Suddenly two sets of alarms went off at once as Paige ran out of her bedroom. "The babies!" she shouted as Buffy came up the stairs heading for her room.
"What?" Piper replied in confusion.
"The babies," Paige called over her shoulder as she ran in between Piper and Leo and headed into Piper's room.
Buffy ran into her room and found a demon standing over her niece's crib. "Hey!" she shouted.
Suddenly a force field appeared around the crib and knocked the demon off his feet. Buffy grabbed a dagger off a table and threw it at the demon. As the dagger lodged in the demon's he exploded and the dagger dropped to the floor.
The force field vanished as Buffy rushed to her niece's crib and found the baby crying.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Piper and Leo followed Paige into their bedroom and into the nursery where they found two demons standing over the twin's cribs.
"Hey!" Paige yelled.
A force field appeared around the twin's cribs and knocked the demons off their feet. Piper raised her hands and with a flick of her wrists blew up one of the demons. The other demon shimmered out.
"Son of a...!" Piper shouted as the twin's force field vanishes.
They walk over to the cribs and found both babies crying.
"Way to go," Leo told his children excitedly. "Way to use your powers."
Piper picked up her baby girl as Leo picked up their baby boy. "Are you both okay?" she asked the twins. "No, you are both okay, it's alright, you both are okay."
Buffy walked in carrying Dawn's baby girl. "Demons?"
"Yeah, vanquished one, one got away," Piper said looking at her mother. "I assume there was another in your room."
"Yeah," Buffy answered with a resigned sigh.
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Xander finished untying Andrew.
"Ow, watch it," Andrew whined. "That's my joystick hand."
"Not touchin' that one," Xander said under his breath.
Faith went back over the reasons Andrew was being let go. "We don't have time to baby-sit a hostage."
"Especially a hostage that's gotten a little ripe," Xander put in.
Suddenly aware of that, Faith made a face and took a step back. "So . . . did you ever see the movie Misery?"
"Six times," Andrew answered eagerly. "But the book was scarier than the movie 'cause instead of crushing his foot with a sledge hammer, Kathy Bates chops it off with . . ." And then he got it. He said in a little voice, "I'll be good."
Leo orbed in holding Dawn's baby in one arm and had his free hand on the twins stroller. "Faith," he said as he went to hand her daughter to her.
"What is she doing here?" Faith asked with concern as she held her daughter.
"They were attacked," Leo answered. "We need someplace where…"
"It's not safe for them here," Faith interjected. "As much as I want to see my daughter, bond with her. This is ground zero for everything happening in Sunnydale. They're not safe here. Why don't you try the Elders, maybe they might be able to help us out till you get your demon problem taken care of?"
"It's worth a try I guess," Leo admitted. "Before I go, Buffy wanted to pass on some information. She had another one of the premonition dreams from her Slayer side. She said another Potential arrived in town yesterday. And that she's at the Sun Spot Motel, near the highway."
"Thanks, Leo," Faith said as she kissed her daughter on the forehead before handing her back to Leo. She watched as Leo orbed out with the three babies.
"That must have been difficult," Willow admitted.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Faith admitted. "Xander, why don't we go check out this lead."
Andrew stood. "All right, retrieving a Potential! Let's do it!" he cried.
Then, sensing that he was not welcome—perhaps because of the way Faith and Xander were glaring at him, he said meekly, "Or I could just go wash up."
Halliwell Manor
"It just pisses me off," Piper said as she, Buffy and Paige walked into the attic. "I can't believe they would come in the house and try to steal mine and Aunt Dawn's babies."
"Piper, demons aren't exactly known for their moral compass," Paige reminded her sister as they walked over to the Book of Shadows. "At least he'll be safe with Aunt Faith until we can figure it out."
"But they're just babies," Piper cried. "They're small and little and innocent."
"It's okay," Buffy said resting a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"All three of them have that invincibility thing going on," Paige added. "Hey, do you think that's permanent or is it like a baby teeth thing?"
"None of us knows," Buffy told her youngest daughter. "But the demons saw them. And they will find a way eventually around them."
"Unless they can get past Aunt Faith, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya and all the Potentials," Paige told her mother. "They're going to be fine."
"Well, they can't stay in Sunnydale forever," Piper sighed. "Especially not with the First Evil planning something.".
"That's what we're here for," Buffy told her daughter. "No one is going to steal your babies or Dawn's. I promise you and Dawn both that."
It was at that moment that Leo orbed in with all three babies.
"Leo?" Piper said in clear surprise.
"Faith wouldn't keep them," Leo said with a sigh. "She was afraid with everything going on in Sunnydale that…"
"That they might not be safe there," Buffy finished for her son-in-law.
"Exactly," Leo said. "So she suggested trying the Elders. Sadly they wouldn't keep them either."
"What?" Piper said in surprise. "Why? Did you tell them what's going on?"
Leo nodded. "They want you, me, Dawn and Faith to prove to ourselves that we can protect them like Buffy and Grams did for you." He looked at his mother-in-law. "And like you did for Dawn."
Dawn's baby started to cry and Buffy took her from Leo. "it's okay, Auntie Buffy is here," she soothed. "Mommy will be home soon."
Piper took the twin's and moved their stroller over to the couch where she sat down next to them.
"Are you okay?" Leo asked as he sat down next to his wife.
Piper sighed. "I'm having some severe separation anxiety issues."
"We can do this," Buffy said as she sat down next to Piper, opposite Leo.
"Hey, here he is, the Hawker Demon," Paige said having found the demon that had gotten away in the Book. "A breed of demon known for hawking magical goods at the demonic market."
"Magical goods!" Piper exclaimed. "My babies and Aunt Dawn's baby are magical goods? That is sick and twisted."
"Couldn't agree more," Buffy sighed. "The question is who would want to buy them and why?"
Bay Mirror Newspaper Offices
Dawn and Phoebe stood in the middle of the newsroom with the rest of their co-workers as they listened to Elise talk about the new owner. "I know it's not much of a choice but there it is," Elise told them. "We find ways to make him happy or we find new jobs."
Dawn sighed. "Which means my maternity leave ends today, doesn't it, Elise?" she asked, afraid to hear the answer.
"I'm afraid so, Dawn," Elise replied.
"Well, he can't be any tougher to please than you, right Elise?" Phoebe asked their boss as everyone laughed.
"One can only hope," Elise replied. "All I know is his name is Jason Dean, he's new money, some kind of dot com millionaire, and he's known for his shaking up the companies that he buys."
"Shaking up as in layoffs?" Kate asked.
Elise shrugged. "Honestly, Kate, you know as much as I do."
Kate sighed. "So you don't know if you'll be employed tomorrow either."
"Look, guys, he'll be here soon and we can get a better read then," Elise told everyone. "In the meantime I suggest we all get back to work."
"Work, schmirk," Phoebe said as she grinned. "Dawn and I got baby pictures here. Gather around, people." She smiled as she and Dawn handed out photos of Dawn and Piper's babies.
"How are you doing, Dawn?" asked one woman.
"Healthy as a horse," Dawn answered.
"You think he's gonna keep those blue eyes?" asked another woman indicating Piper's baby boy.
"You know, he might because his daddy has light eyes," Phoebe said as a man joined the crowd.
"How old are they?" he asked.
"Two days today," Phoebe answered.
"Wow," he said looking Phoebe over. "You look pretty good for a woman who had triplets two days ago."
"Oh, no, I'm not their mommies, I'm just their..." Phoebe said as she looked at him for the first time. "…auntie." She put an arm around Dawn. "Here is one of their mommies, right here."
"Dawn Summers-Halliwell," Dawn said as she stuck out her hand.
"Jason Dean," Jason said as he shook Dawn's hand.
Phoebe glanced at her aunt as they both realized this was their new boss. "Oh, god!"
"I'm sorry, y-y-you're Mr. Dean?" Elise said she rushed over to them.
Jason smiled. "Jason, please."
"Wow, that-that's some weird stuff because you're really... young, young," Phoebe said as Dawn slapped her arm.
"Ignore my sister," Dawn said as Phoebe nervously fanned her face with the photos in her hand. "She's not normally this flabbergasted."
Jason looked around the newsroom. "You know it's strange. I always pictured a newspaper bullpen as being a little more, I don't know, bustling."
"Bus-bus-bustle," Phoebe said as everyone quickly got back to work.
Jason laughed. "Oh, hey, no."
"I'm Elise Rothman. Let me show you around," Elise offered.
"Honestly, Elise, I didn't mean to insult your team," he admitted. "I grew up reading comic books, The Daily Planet, bustled."
"Yeah, well, in all fairness," Dawn said, trying to buy herself and possibly Phoebe some brownie points. "Superman can move faster than a speeding bullet, so he's got a little leg up on the bustling, you know?"
"A woman who knows her superheroes," Jason smiled. "I'm impressed."
"I can blame my friend, Xander," Dawn replied.
Phoebe glanced at Dawn as if to say, you forgot to introduce me. She looked back at Jason. "I'm Phoebe." She shook his hand.
"I know who you both are actually," Jason said looking at Phoebe and Dawn. "I've been doing a lot of homework, a lot of reading. Circulation is down and..." He looked down and noticed that Phoebe was still shaking his hand.
"Oh, sorry," Phoebe apologized as she released his hand.
"I plan to bring it up and from what I've seen that's going to start with you, Phoebe," Jason said. "And your assistant."
Phoebe and Dawn glanced at each other. They understood why he wanted to talk to Phoebe, but why Dawn. After all as Jason said Dawn was only Phoebe's assistant. "Wow, that's really sweet," Phoebe said to Jason before looking toward Elise. "Isn't that sweet? Did you hear that?" She looked back at Jason. "We're sorry about the little picture show, you know?" She looked at Dawn. "Aren't we?"
"Yeah," Dawn agreed.
"Oh, if I had a nieces and a nephew that cute I'd show them off too," Jason told Phoebe. "The best I can do is..." He pulled out his wallet and shows them a picture of a dog, "…a picture of my dog." He smiled.
Phoebe took his wallet and looked closer at the picture.
"Mr. Dean, if you'd like I could give you a tour," Elise suggested.
Jason smiled. "Great. Phoebe," he said as Phoebe gave him back his wallet. "Dawn. The three of us, let's talk soon."
"He has your eyes," Phoebe said as Jason laughed. They watched him walk away with Elise.
"Really, Pheebs, hitting on the boss?" Dawn said shaking her head.
"Is that any worse than you trying to get on his good side with the comic book thing," Phoebe retorted.
Sun Spot Motel
Faith and Xander briefly cased the joint, because the joint was so deserted.
"Tourism must be down," Faith observed.
"Right in the middle of apocalypse season," Xander mused.
Faith knocked. "Hello?" Knocked again. "It's okay. We're friends and we're not the Bringers."
Xander peered through the window. Then he said, "Faith, orb us in."
Faith grabbed his hand and orbed them into the room. They raced to the body on the floor. It was a girl, face down in a pool of her own blood.
"She's cold," Faith told Xander. "She's been dead for days."
"Poor kid," Xander said. "Made it all the way to Sunnydale just to get herself killed."
Then Faith rolled the girl over and saw her face. It was one of the Potentials named…Eve.
"Eve, who's in our house?" Xander asked.
They left.
Halliwell Manor
Paige walked into the conservatory. She immediately noticed Buffy, Piper and Leo were looking at the family tree. Buffy had a notepad in front of her, writing down suggestions for Dawn. "Well, the neighbors who don't already think we're crazy now officially do," Paige said. "But the house is surrounded by apples and sage."
Piper smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I know you think it's a waste of time but..."
Paige nodded in agreement. "Well, you know, if it worked we would've done it already."
"Every little bit helps," Buffy said as she wrote down a name.
"Alright. How's the ritual coming?" Paige asked.
"It's not," Piper answered with a sigh.
"What?" Paige said surprised. "I thought you were going to try to call the baby's fairy guards."
"The problem is that neither of Piper's babies have a name. And Dawn's doesn't have a middle name yet," Buffy explained. "And those details need to be finalized for the ritual."
"So we busted out the family tree hoping to find some new ideas," Leo added.
"Let me see," Paige said as she sat beside Buffy. "Okay, right away I'm going to say for your baby boy I'm against the name Herbert."
"Yeah, we already vetoed Clarence and Milton as well," Piper said.
Paige looked at the bottom of the paper. "Not to be too self-centered but where am I on the tree?"
"Oh, uh..." Leo said as he glanced at Piper.
"Well, we haven't had a chance to update it lately," Piper reluctantly admitted. "Mom, Aunt Dawn and Aunt Faith aren't even on there either."
"No, offense, mom," Paige said as she looked at her mother. "But well, yeah, that's because mom and Aunt Dawn aren't officially related to us."
"That don't matter, Paige," Piper said as she looked at her sister. "They are family and deserve to be on here also."
"I know," Paige replied. "Anyway, wiccan rituals and fairy guards notwithstanding, I think it's time we bust out some serious ammo."
"What did you have in mind?" Buffy asked.
"A good old fashioned demon hunt," Paige answered. "I say we bypass the Hawker and go for the jerk that hired him to steal the babies in the first place."
"How?" Leo wondered.
Paige shrugged. "Not so sure just yet but I will say this. Once we find him, we use him to send a message, If you come after this baby you will die in the cruelest manner possible."
Two of the babies began to cry. Buffy and Piper stood and walked over to the bassinets.
"Well, I like the message. Um, you know, except..." Piper said as she picked up her baby girl and carried her to the changing table.
"Except?" Buffy asked as she headed as she checked Dawn's baby's diaper.
"Except for the part where I have to leave my newborn children to go demon hunting," Piper told her mother. "I'm just, I'm not ready. You know I was agree with Aunt Dawn going to work. But I don't know how she could leave her little girl."
"She didn't want to," Buffy replied. "In fact if she knew that the babies were attacked I'm pretty sure that she would be rushing home right now."
"Okay, fine, I can understand that," Paige told her sister. "I'll just, uh, Mom?"
"No," Buffy said. "Till Dawn gets home I am not going to force Piper to take care of all three babies by herself."
"Okay, then I'll take Phoebe," Paige said as Piper changed her baby girl's diaper.
"Mom?" Piper said as she returned her baby girl to her bassinet.
"Hungry," Buffy said as Piper nodded as she took Dawn's baby from her.
"Except that Phoebe and Dawn got a really big day at work today and we kind of need their money right now," Leo reminded his sister-in-law.
Piper sat back down on the couch. She draped a blanket over her shoulder and then opened her blouse to reveal her nursing bra. She opened one of the cups and placed Dawn's baby to her breast.
"What about mom's gallery?" Paige asked confused on why Buffy wasn't providing money.
"I'm paying the bills for mine and Dawn's house in Sunnydale," Buffy reminded her daughter.
"Okay," Paige sighed. "Then I'll go by myself."
Leo shook his head. "No way, you don't even know what kind of demon we're up against."
Paige sighed. "Fine, but I am both of your babies godmother," she reminded her brother-in-law. "It's my job to protect them and if I don't stop him, the Hawker will come back." She looked at Buffy. "Isn't that also your job also, mom. You are Aunt Dawn's baby's godmother."
"Yes," Buffy answered reluctantly. "Then let's get ready for him."
"Exactly." Piper agreed. "We'll lay a trap for him. Maybe we'll kidnap him and sell him to the highest bidder," She handed Dawn's baby to Buffy before fastening the cup of her nursing bra and buttoning her blouse. "What do you think?" she asked taking Dawn's baby back from Buffy and burping her. "That's a good idea." She then stood and walked over the bassinet and placed Dawn's little girl in the empty bassinet.
"Then we can find out who hired him and force him to take us to them," Leo said.
Paige shook her head. "No, it sounds risky."
"Well all three babies have their force fields and your alarm system," Leo reminded Paige. "It's no more risky than you going off on your own on some wild goose chase."
"He's right," Piper agreed. "You should go get the crystals for the trap."
"Fine," Paige said as she got up and headed up the stairs.
Buffy heard her cell phone chimed. "Buffy Summers-Halliwell," she said when she answered.
"Shh!" Piper told her mother.
"Hey, Buffy," Dawn said from the other end of the phone. "Just checking in on my baby girl."
"Dawn," Buffy told Piper and Leo. She moved into the dining room away from the babies. She then turned her attention back to the phone. "Piper just fed her. She's doing good otherwise. Just put her back down for her nap."
"Hurry up," Phoebe said in the background. "I want to speak to my wonderful nieces and nephew."
"Tell Phoebe their sleeping," Buffy told her sister.
"Their sleeping, Phoebe. You can talk to them later." Dawn said from the other end of the phone, talking to Phoebe.
"So how'd it go with the new boss?" Buffy asked.
"You mean, Jason Dean?" Dawn answered. "Phoebe wants to bear his children."
"Aunt Dawn!" Phoebe cried in embarrassment.
"What?" Buffy laughed. "She has a crush on the new boss?"
"Yes," Dawn answered. "Now, Buffy, you remember I can tell when you aren't being entirely truthful. And unless you intend for me to astral project over there to find out…"
Buffy sighed. "I didn't want to worry you, Dawn, but there was an attack. They were after yours and Piper's babies."
"What!" Dawn screamed loud enough for Buffy to briefly move the phone from her ear.
"What is it, Aunt Dawn?" Phoebe said in the background.
"Buffy said that the babies were attacked," Dawn told Phoebe before returning her attention to her sister. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I just did, Dawn," Buffy replied with a sigh.
"Okay, Phoebe and I are coming home," Dawn said with a tone of concern.
"Dawn, we have everything under control," Buffy told her sister, "there's nothing to worry about. We'll call you if we need you and Phoebe."
"This is my daughter, Buffy, along with mine and Phoebe's niece and nephew that we're talking about, okay? You should've called me," Dawn said. "We'll just tell Jason that we have to work from home for the rest of the day." She then hung up before Buffy could get another word in edgewise.
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Faith Slayer burst in, noticing Andrew with his feet on the furniture. She rolled her eyes as she went past him and down the stairs to the basement, Xander following her. Andrew trailed after.
"Eve!" Faith shouted at the Potential pretending to be Eve. "Get away from them!"
Eve grinned at Faith. "What's the problem, officer?" she drawled.
Willow, who had also followed, said, "Faith, what did Eve do?"
"That's not Eve," Xander announced.
"Eve's dead," Faith told the group.
They were stunned, backing away from Eve, as Rona said, "I don't . . . I don't understand . . ."
Andrew freaked.
"Whoops, one more down," Eve said cheerily. "Oh, well. Can't save 'em all, can you, Faith?" She grinned at the Potentials. "Thanks for the slumber party, girls. It's been real fun the last couple of nights. I learned a whole lot . . ."
"Shut up and get out!" Faith yelled, enraged.
Eve faced Faith. "Or you'll do what?"
Faith went all silent ninja on that one.
"I'll be sending a guest over to visit y'all later on tonight," The First announced. "After the sun goes down, of course." She smiled like the Southern belle she most certainly was not. "Try and make him feel welcome before he rips y'all to pieces. Bye!"
Then she became a long thread of light that winked out in the middle like an old-style picture-tube TV going off.
Andrew was about to wet his pants. So he cleverly covered it up by saying loudly, "I need to go wash up again."
Bay Mirror Newspaper Offices
"In today's market image and content are inseparable," Jason told Elise as he sat across from her in her office. "We could publish a Pulitzer-Prize winning article but with our puny circulation, who's going to notice?"
"Hi. Is this a bad time?" Phoebe asked as she and Dawn walked into the office.
"No, come in, come in. Here, look at this woman," Jason said pointing at Phoebe. "She's beautiful, smart, funny. And she can write. With the right exposure, she could kick Dear Abby down into the bush leagues. She's a commodity."
Phoebe smiled. "Thank you, I-I think. Now that I have your attention..."
"And we've worked hard to capitalize on her," Elise said smiling at Jason. "She has billboards, she's done guest spots on local radio shows, she did that spread in 415 magazine."
"And don't think I didn't see it. What I was wondering was what we could do differently with regard to content,"
"Content?" Elise asked, wondering exactly what her new boss had in mind.
"I was thinking we expand her column," Jason told them. "The first thing would be for her to have a writing partner."
"A writing partner?" Phoebe and Elise asked simultaneously.
"Someone that who knows her and who she knows. For example her sister here," Jason said looking pointedly at Dawn.
"Me?" Dawn said in clear surprise. "But I don't have experience or even a degree in psychology like Phoebe does. I even put off my first semester of college because of my pregnancy."
"You are perfect," Jason said. "Having worked for as Phoebe's assistant you already know her style. And being her sister you already know her personally. Which makes it you the perfect person." He looked at Elise. "Wouldn't you say?"
"I think that's a good idea," Elise agreed.
"Good," Jason said as he smiled. "Next we have them write a series of features road testing their own advice, or a series on the best singles spots in San Francisco based on their own undercover experience."
"Uhm, I mean no offense. But I'm married," Dawn interjected. "I'm not going to cheat on my wife even for a story."
"Ooh even better," Jason said smiling at Dawn's inadvertent reveal. "We can target two demographics at once."
Elise thought about it and nodded in agreement. With Phoebe targeting straight couples and Dawn targeting gay couples. "I like it. Phoebe, Dawn and I can work this afternoon, put some ideas together..."
"No, we can't," Dawn interjected again. "I'm sorry, but we have to work from home for the rest of the afternoon."
"Why?" Jason asked with a frown.
"Why?" Dawn answered with a raise of her eyebrows. "I have a new baby. Officially I was to still be on maternity leave till next week. Second, I don't have a car. I was planning to buy one after I returned to work. So I need Phoebe to take me home."
"Dawn…Phoebe," Elise interjected. "We're talking about you getting a promotion, Dawn. We're talking about expanding the column to include you both as writing partners. I should think you'd both want a hand in what that's going to look like."
"Well, of course we do, Elise, but..." Phoebe argued.
"Are we not paying you both enough?" Jason asked looking at Dawn and Phoebe.
"No, that's not it," Phoebe objected looking at Dawn.
"Okay, sit down with Elise, come up with some new ideas, and while you two are at it discuss what you both think your new salaries should be," Jason told Dawn and Phoebe. "We'll meet again late this afternoon." His cell phone rang. "Yeah?" he said as he answered it. "Great." He turned and walked out of the office.
Summer Home, Sunnydale
Faith, Willow, Tara, Xander, and, unfortunately, Andrew, were holding a pow-wow with the Potentials were gathered around the dining room table.
The girls were in not loving the lack of a countermove against their invasion by The First.
"We should run," Vi insisted.
"And go where, Vi?" Kennedy asked pointedly.
"Annabelle ran," Tara reminded the Potentials. "Running is not the answer."
"Your safer in here, than out there," Faith insisted.
"How can you say that?" Molly demanded, staring at the Slayer. "It was here, Faith. In the house. Living with us for days."
"And you didn't even know it," Chloe added accusingly.
"None of us knew it," Xander argued, which, perhaps not the right thing to say . . .
"It could still be here," Vi said. "It could be any one of us."
Willow spoke up. "No. The First can only take the form of dead people."
"Yeah, well, there'll be plenty more of those soon enough," Vi returned. "We're dropping like flies here."
The girls started talking at once, arguing with each other, until Faith called out, "Hey!"
They stopped, looked at her.
"Look, I know you're all scared. You know what? I am, too, but G-man and An will be back soon, and hopefully they will have the information that we need to stop The First. In the meantime, we have to stick together, okay? We're stronger that way. We can't afford to fall apart now."
Andrew stepped up to the table. "She's right," he proclaimed. "Where would the Justice League have been if they hadn't put their differences aside to stop the Imperium and his shapeshifting alien horde?" He crossed his arms as if to say, Well?
Faith gritted, "Don't help me."
Xander hesitated, then said, "Faith, the sun goes down, and Ubervamp's on its way. A plan would be good about now. And don't say powers, because I don't think freezing the Ubervamp is going to cut it."
Faith looked at Willow and Tara. "Can you two do some kind of barrier? Something tells me this vampire doesn't need an invitation to get in the house."
"We'll try," Tara agreed.
"Try?" Rona echoed.
"You heard her," Kennedy shot back.
Xander didn't want to speak in front of the girls, but he said, "You sure about doing magic, Faith? I mean, last time—"
"We don't have a lot of choices, Xan," Faith reminded him.
"And what if it doesn't work?" Chloe asked shrilly. "What if that monster gets through?"
"Then I'll buy you all time," Faith said looking at the Potentials as she held out her hand as an ice ball formed in it. "I may not be able to kill it with my powers, but I sure as heck can slow it down. If anything else I can start orbing you all to San Francisco. To Buffy and the Charmed Ones."
Molly was not convinced. "Faith, you fought the Turok-han. And it almost killed you."
"And you're the Slayer," Chloe added.
"What chance do we have?" Rona asked.
They went on, sinking into defeat, drowning in it . . . and Faith formulated Plan B. . . .
Halliwell Manor
Piper, Buffy and Leo stood looking at the babies in their bassinets watching them sleep. "Why would somebody want to hurt something so innocent?" Piper asked her mother and husband. Leo pointed at Paige who was asleep on the couch and they walked into the conservatory. "Poor Paige. She's getting all the hassles of parenthood with none of the rewards."
"I think her reward is the same as mine," Buffy said. "A smile from her niece and nephew is all she will ever want."
"Buffy's right," Leo agreed. "It's gonna be okay, Piper."
"How?" Piper wondered.
"Because babies are resilient," Leo explained, "and ours and Dawn's have a little extra of that."
"But even so, I mean, it can't be good for them," Piper told her husband. "Even if they can handle the demons, they must sense the tension which means at the very best, we end up with neurotic infants."
"Piper kind of has a point," Buffy reluctantly admitted. "It was different for Piper, Phoebe and Paige. They didn't grow up with magic. It surprises me Dawn and I haven't needed to see a shrink long before now. We've actually had to grow up with it. Dawn a tad bit more so than I. After all Dawn was only twelve-years-old when she watched me die the first time."
"Look on the bright side, growing up with this family, they were bound to be neurotic anyway," Leo joked as the three of them laughed.
Suddenly, Paige came flying into the room just as the baby alarms went off. Buffy, Piper and Leo ran into the parlor to see the Hawker and two other demons there. The demons had red beams of light hitting the bassinets which was causing them to float in mid-air.
"No!" Piper and Buffy shouted as they dove on the bassinets pushing them out of the beam's way. They land on the floor as Leo tackled the demons.
"Leo!" Paige called out as Leo got out of the way and she put down a crystal near the demons creating a crystal cage. The demons scream before exploding, leaving only a knife behind. "I guess I over charged it," she said sheepishly as she picked up the knife.
Leo rushed over to Piper, Buffy and the babies, which were crying. "How are they?" he asked looking at Piper and Buffy.
"I think we need a little bit of healing here," Piper said.
"Well, they look fine to me," Leo told his wife.
"Not them…Piper," Buffy said as she looked down at her daughter's leg just as Piper fell to the floor and into unconsciousness. Paige and Leo followed Buffy's gaze to the broken bone sticking out of Piper's leg. The three of them wince at the sight.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Paige sat on the floor with Piper's head propped into her lap. She looked up at her mother who was tending to the babies.
"Okay, now, easy, watch her head," Leo told his sister-in-law. "Alright, make sure you hold her hands, one thing we don't want her blowing things up."
Paige took hold of her sister's hands. "Just do it."
Leo held his hands over Piper's wound as the healing glow spread out from his hands. The bone mended itself and then the skin stitched itself back together before her jeans mended themselves. As the healing finished the glow disappeared and Piper shot up.
"Where are the babies?" Piper asked.
"They're okay, Piper," Buffy told her eldest daughter.
"They knew about the force field, they almost blew him out of the window," Piper said looking up at her mother who held her baby boy.
"Yeah, but they didn't," Leo told his wife, "and right now our concern is about you."
"Me?" Piper asked confused. "Why? I'm healed."
"Yes," Leo agreed, "but the fact is that you needed to be healed, that's what I'm talking about."
Piper looked down at her stomach. "Yeah, I guess I'm not so invincible anymore, huh?"
"Well it does make sense," Buffy told her daughter. "After all you and Dawn got those powers from your babies."
"I think Faith would agree, if she was here, that we were just hoping they would've left a little bit behind for their mamas," Leo admitted.
"Well, the theory did occur to me but I haven't had a chance to test it out," Piper admitted.
"This is serious, Piper," Leo told his wife as he looked her over. "You need to learn how to be careful again now that you're vulnerable."
"And I need to remind Dawn of the same thing," Buffy added.
"Aunt Dawn and I don't have the luxury of being careful now that half of demonville is after our children," Piper argued.
"Um, what do you think about using he athame to scry for the demonic market?" Paige asked. "I mean, it makes sense that the Hawker demon got it there."
"Would make sense," Buffy agreed.
"We can then disguise ourselves as demons," Paige continued, "infiltrate the market and pretend that we know how to get the Charmed Ones' babies and the Slayer's baby."
"It's a smart plan," Piper agreed. "Then we could find out what sicko is in the market to buy them."
"Right," Paige agreed as she smiled at her sister, "then we vanquish them, everyone they've ever met, and proceed with our original demon killing, message sending plan."
"Kind of wordy," Buffy admitted with a roll of her eyes. "But it is a good plan."
"Oh, it's a good idea to send the mother of my children into the hornet's nest because you overcharged the trap?" Leo asked looking at Paige.
"It's okay, Paige's right, we can go," Piper told her husband.
"Are you sure you're okay to do this?" Buffy asked looking at her eldest daughter pointedly.
Piper looked at the bassinets for a moment and then shook her head. "No, I can't go."
"Okay, I'll just go check the Book of Shadows, see if I missed anything," Paige said as she stood up. "They'll be okay." She headed out of the room.
"I think I will help her," Buffy said as she followed her youngest daughter out of the room.
Piper sighed as she looked at her husband. "I think it's time we called Aunt Dawn and Phoebe."
"Dawn, called remember and your mother said they were on their way home," Leo reminded Piper as she gave him a look that said call them. "I'll call." He stood and headed for the phone.
"You're all okay," Piper said to her children and her niece. "We're not going to let anybody steal any of you."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Paige walked out of Piper's bedroom holding one of the baby blankets with the triquetra on it. She saw Buffy coming out of her room holding another baby blanket with a matching triquetra on it. "You sure you want to help me with this, mom?" she asked.
"Yeah," Buffy said. "After all it's my niece and grandchildren's lives that are at stake."